The Scarlet Kanji
by FluffysTrueLove
Summary: HEY!! It's a Scarlet Letter/ Inuyasha crossover. HEY, JUST BECAUSE IT'S A SCARLET LETTER THING, DON'T NOT READ IT!!!!!!!! Heheheh.... this must be good, huh? Well... there are the characters which are just plain weird...
1. The Broken Well

****

The Scarlet Kanji

the remake of The Scarlet Letter

copyright info: Thank you Ramiko Takahashi!! Without you, I'd never have the characters to fit this story so well. That goes to Nathanial Hawthorne, too! Without your crazy ideas of a Puritan society's outcast, none of this would be possible!!

Ok... onto the story now.......

Chapter 1

The Broken Well

The day was gloomy. Overcast, dreary, and snowing, the setting was perfect for the arrival of the ordinary girl name Kagome. The Feudal Ages, Japan's era of war, was set in the exact same kind of weather. Unknown to Kagome, however, her life was going to be nothing of the normal kind for a long time....

*~~~~~~*

"Grandpa!" Kagome yelled, running into the family shrine. After running up the 10 flights of stairs up to the top of the shrine, it was no wonder that Kagome was totally out of breath. 

"Yes, Kagome?" Kagome's grandfather peeped his head outside the shrine's housing facilities (A/N- what the HECK do you call the house in a shinto shrine??) The gloomy weather apparently affecting the moods of the people in it, Kagome's grandfather became agitated when Kagome didn't respond immediately. "Kagome! Are you going to tell me what you want or you going to let me freeze outside?? How about you just come inside so this poor old man doesn't turn into a Popsicle?"

"Fine... just.... *huff*..... calm..... down!!" Kagome managed to huff out to satisfy his grandfather enough to put his head back inside and shut the door to warm his numb fingers back up. _Grandpa will never understand me..._ Kagome thought walking into the house, prying off all the winter gear. Once stepping into the warm house and after finally catching her breath (she was very out of shape, being as it had been dark and cold for weeks now), she asked her old, wise grandfather what she had been meaning to say previously. "Grandpa, at school, we're reading The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne. I know that it was around when you were at school, so I'm sure you learned a lot about the Puritan life, right? My teacher is horrible! All he does is expect you to be a genius like Melvin and know everything once you start it!" (A/N- sorry.. had to include some other anime creature's name!! LoL)

Cringing for the time reminder, Kagome's grandfather slowly walked to a large box in the corner of the living room. "Ah... Kagome, I figure you'd end up reading that story someday. Unbelievably enough, we're related to that Hawthorne guy, and he left a journal here stating something strange." Kagome's grandfather lifted an extremely old-looking and dirty journal from the depths of the gigantic leather box. "I know it looks unreadable, but I'm sure you'll understand it if you try to decipher it. Now go along, and find something to do. I have to make sure nothing is frozen in the well-house. There's something we don't want going wrong- our supply of water gone in a day!" Kagome's grandfather slowly walked to the doorway after handing the journal to Kagome. After leaving the room, Kagome closely examined the journal. 

_Leather bound? I thought Mr. Yamada told us the use of leather on books wasn't popular anymore when Hawthorne wrote the Scarlet Letter. Maybe I'm wrong... _(A/N- she's wrong, oh wellz... .she's a ditzy weirdo like me.. hehehehe) Kagome slowly got up, thoroughly examining the leather-bound book. Flipping to the first page, Kagome examined the first words of the book... _To my darling Kikyo..... You're my one and only true love._

That's so weird... I have a great great great great great great grandmother named Higarashi Kikyo. She was some sort of priestess... that's how we live in this shrine now! Thought Kagome disbelieving the rest of the book... throwing it onto her bed, she dozed off in a deep slumber. Not even her fat cat, Buyo, could wake her from this sleep. 


	2. The Unbelievable Curse of Beauty

****

The Scarlet Kanji

the remake of The Scarlet Letter

copyright info: Thank you Ramiko Takahashi!! Without you, I'd never have the characters to fit this story so well. That goes to Nathanial Hawthorne, too! Without your crazy ideas of a Puritan society's outcast, none of this would be possible!!

Ok... onto the story now.......

Chapter 2

The Unbelievable Curse of Beauty

Kagome woke up the next morning to find Buy, her extremely obese and lazy kitty, scratching lightly at the leather-bound book at the foot of her bed. Yawning, she realized that the old artifact was going to be nothing but cat-fun if she didn't quickly remove it from the claws of the cat. "Buyo!" Kagome said, casually, but demanding at the same time. After all, she just woke up to find her cat doing what nature tells them to- attack all and think later. (A/N- Can you TELL that I'm a dog-lover? There's a good reason behind that too- LoL)

Looking at her master questioningly, Buyo got up, and lazing around a little, curled up into a ball on the pillow of her master, falling asleep yet again. Kagome, realizing that it was impossible to move the fat cat, gave up on sleeping. It was a Saturday, so it really didn't matter what time she woke-up. Lately, however, she was falling behind in her studies. Mathematics, definitely not her strong suit, was giving her the most trouble in catching up. No matter how hard she tried, she'd sit down for 3 hours, to find that all she'd have done was 2 problems. _Time to find a tutor... _Kagome thought. 

Standing up and stretching, her eyes caught the leather-bound book again. She saw that there was a gap in the book to where the author seemed to have turned a lot in the past. Leaning down to grab the book, she was stopped suddenly by her mother calling from downstairs. "KAGOME!! YOU BETTER BE UP OR ELSE!!!" Kagome realized then, that she was due for the doctors. Being 9am, her appointment was in 15 minutes. "I'm coming... I'm coming..." Kagome mumbled quickly showering, changing into a pair of flare kaki jeans, white t-shirt, and her sneakers, and throwing her long, black hair into a tight bun on the top her head. Running downstairs, she grabbed her American mini-backpack. Throwing on her heavy down-feathered coat, she ran to the family van meeting with her mother and her brother, Souta. Her mother quickly drove to Tokyo to meet their family doctor....

*~~~~~~~~~~*

When they arrived back home, it was almost dark. Shop-a-holics, Kagome and her mother couldn't help themselves from stopping at the local stores and spending practically all their lives' savings on worthless material objects. (A/N- hey! that's what i did today... lol.... man, do i hate Christmas time traffic... the mall is crowded!) 

"Mom, can I wear a new pair of clothes over to my friend's house tonight? I mean, I know school's the reason why we bought these, but you know how much I love this outfit!" Kagome said holding up a jean mini-skirt and a black, turtle-necked, long-sleeved shirt. After saying it was okay, Kagome's mother told Souta and Kagome that she had to help Grandpa in the Warding-Room of the shrine. (A/N- hey, they need jobs to do... if you have any clue whatsoever that they should do, R/R and I'll be happy as a cow! LOL) Kagome, dressed in her new garb, danced upstairs to pack for her night over at her friend's house. Upon entering her room, she noticed that the leather-bound book was a slightly different color than before. Instead of the brown, leather-like color, it was a bit more yellow. Interested, Kagome picked-up the book and began to read the pages that had been permanently bent to "easy-open" position. As she read, her eyes grew large:

__

Dear Journal, 

You know that throughout all the years, I have never suffered as much heartbreak as today. Upon passing through the barrier to meet my beloved, I was met with an absolute nightmare. My love had been branded an adulteress. Curse with the punishment of wearing a giant kanji symbol in a deep scarlet red, she was standing on the Shinto temple's stair top under the face of their gods. Unsure of the reason, but positive of the punishment, I checked deeper into the matter. My love had become pregnant with a local's baby after believing that her late husband had perished from this earth. Why should you be punished for such an unsuitable law? My love, though not dead, is going to die slowly if this punishment goes on. I will write about this atrocity and let it live in eternity. She will never be forgotten so long as the story survives. 

Nathanial Hawthorne

With her eyes almost to tears, she noticed that there were prints on the thick paper from tearstains. _Why would HE be crying?_ She asked herself, realizing shortly that his love had been lost to an unknown townsperson. Hawthorne's whole life had consisted on loving this woman who crushed his heart in one swoop. _Wait.... _she read the letter over again catching the key phrase of the letter.... 'Upon passing through the barrier to meet my beloved....' _The hell....._ Flipping quickly to the first page, she read the most important journal entry- the first entry:

__

Dear Journal, 

You'll never know what happened to me today. I've met my soul-mate. Her name's Higarashi Kikyo. The most beautiful woman of any world. Ah, yes, any world. That's where I must explain. Today, I received the greatest urge to go out. Unlucky as most are in the most desperate of times, my car broke down in the middle of the country, but close enough to a local Shinto shrine. Upon climbing up to the shrine's entrance, I got another weird feeling from the empty well. I opened the doors to empty well to be dragged down from a centipede-like monster. Yes, that's right, a centipede monster. I thought I was going to die with that horrible creature, but the most beautiful woman saved me. Dressed in an ancient miko's garb, she shot a spirit-powered arrow through the monster, destroying it totally in one hit. Thank god for those spiritually enabled. 

Nthanial Hawthorne

Eyes now popping out her head, Kagome threw down the book with wild thoughts flying through her head of where this temple could possibly be. _Could it be mine?? _She thought. _Never. This temple wasn't about when Hawthorne came through our part of town. _Kagome suddenly got an urge to check out the well. That is, until she realized, unlike Hawthorne's time, the well was full with water and the transport between worlds, if that was true, was impossible. Also, the possibility of the void to open-up for her was slim to none. Though, none of this kept this young girl from thinking about trying it anyway. Running downstairs, throwing on her heavy down-feathered jacket, she ran to the well's shrine. 

****

to be continued.....

A/N- ok, I know that I'm not a good writer, but i need you guys to read and review. please? ok, i need to get some moral support from you guys before i continued this really screwed-up scarlet letter adaptation. though, i must say, this story is going MUCH better than planned... hehehehe. i think that it's time to go, but don't forget to visit my sister's stories- her name's Broken Dreams. also, go to my website. hey, you know you want to... www.geocities.com/zeldasetsunagirl..... wahooo!!!!!!!!!!!

^-^

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	3. The Truth Behind The Story

****

The Scarlet Kanji

the remake of The Scarlet Letter

copyright info: Thank you Ramiko Takahashi!! Without you, I'd never have the characters to fit this story so well. That goes to Nathanial Hawthorne, too! Without your crazy ideas of a Puritan society's outcast, none of this would be possible!!

Ok... onto the story now......

****

Chapter 3

The Truth Behind the Story

Outside, still stormy and extremely snowy, Kagome ran full-out to the well house. _I hope it's true. What a tragic love story. If only it's true!.... _Kagome thought while running. Flinging the doors open, Kagome revealed a breath-taking scene. Sticking out of the well, there was a huge tentacle. Some un-known force was drawing Kagome closer and closer to examine the creature. Screaming, and soon regretting that she wanted to investigate this mystery, Kagome tried to force herself out of the hold, but was unable to do so no matter how hard she tried. Suddenly getting captured, and help was too far away, Kagome knew she was going to die. _This is so stupid! I wanted this to be a happy ending, but all I get is misery. God! Please help me! _As if her prayer was suddenly answered, a bright pink light engulfed the tentacle and the room. The tentacle was ripped particle by particle and Kagome felt a rip from the well. Being pulled into the well as a force so incredible, Kagome blacked out. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

After waking up from the deep slumber, Kagome looked over her surroundings. People in weird outfits because it was so cold were staring into the unknown face upon them. Whispering among themselves, Kagome caught a phrase or two in a semi-English language. _Great... I'm trapped in a world where I won't be able to understand them. I knew I should have paid more attention in English class. _Kagome, realizing how important was going to be to know English, reached down to pull her handy-dandy English-translator out of her pants back pocket. (A/N- you know you have one of those Kanji translators in your pockets Americans and Brits!!) Realization hit her fast... she was close to be nude! Been stripped-down to only her under garments and shoes, her jacket, pants, and heavy shirt was thrown to the side of her and there was an old women in an ancient Japanese outfit nearby talking to the people. Confused, she noticed that all the other people around her (especially the guys) were carefully observing the clothes. 

Trying English first, Kagome was looked at weirdly by most. "Jeez! I know my English isn't that great, but stop picking on me!" Kagome yelled in Japanese to the people. The people, looking frightened, realized suddenly that they could easily understand her. 

"Young child, I am Kaede. I'm the town's miko. You might not be acquainted with that word, as that young black-haired man was," Kaede started to get into a dreamy state and popped back to reality when she realized there was a young black-haired girl staring at her strangely. "What may your name be, young woman?"

Kagome looked bug-eyed at the woman. "You expect me to answer you in this garb? I feel like a frikkin piece of meat out for the animals to eat. It's about 20 degrees outside and I feel sick already! Please! I need my jacket." Kagome screamed the last sentence while walking, hugging herself, to Kaede. 

"My child, I do not know that last word you said.... ja... ket....?" Kaede asked inquisitively. Kagome, still bug-eyed and now blue ran to her pile of clothes and threw all of them back on. Though not even close to being warm, she felt much better and decided that being a total bitch was not going to work in this weird world. 

"Okay, I'll answer you now," Kagome started, but realized that she was feeling very dizzy and started to fall. 

"Woah... young lady, I shall help you to your feet and bring you home. All of you, you know it is far too cold to be entertained by such an alien," Kaede grabbed Kagome and called over a young man in the village: the village's monk, Miroku. 

"Don't worry, young woman. You're safe here." Miroku said with a huge smile. The smile was so reassuring and warm that Kagome couldn't melt under that stare. But that reassurance was short lasting....

"Houshi-san, why are you RUBBING MY BUTT??!!!!!!!" Kagome woke-up and fully bashed the less-than-perfect monk into the ground. Around the house, a young woman wearing a pink-and-white-topped kimono carrying a large boomerang came running toward Kagome and the perverted monk. "HIRAGATSU!" she cried and the young monk whimpered right before the large wooden boomerang slammed hard on his head. 

"Pleased to... *huff*.... meet you..... *huff*....... You know what?...... *huff*...... you look a lot like her," this young woman looked Kagome over. Still in her puffy, warm jacket, she looked over the other girl. 

"Hi. My name's Kagome. What's yours?" Kagome asked, there was a sudden pain and a quick dip in unconsciousness. The young woman grabbed Kagome by the arm and led her to the closest hut.   
"This is the miko's tent. You can stay here for the night. Stay far away from the young monk's hands, though. Every foreign girl who comes by these parts suddenly has become pregnant. By the way, my name's Sango. I hope we can become really good friends." Sango, laying Kagome down on the futon in the corner of the hut, walked backwards out to the cold world outside. Kagome, examining the hut, realized there was someone else there. "HOUSHI!!!!!! IF THAT'S YOU..........." Kagome warned. 

"Nay, child (A/N- nayyyy! I'm a horsey!!). This is but an old woman looking out for the one who looks like her sister." Kaede answered without an explanation. Lighting the fire in the middle of the hut, she began to make dinner for the both of them. 

"I... look like your.... sister?" Kagome started to ask about what she said, but she soon was into the land of concussion. (A/N- you like? LoL, I made that up)

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Upon waking up the next morning, Kagome was deathly hungry and homesick. Kaede, not in the hut, had left a meal out for Kagome for breakfast. On the floor, there was a quick note scribbled:

__

Don't leave the house. The houshi-san is outside watching the tent. If he tries anything, just call Sango. Hopefully, you've met her. 

"Great! I'm alone with the houshi-san! DAMN IT!!!!!!" Kagome screamed and heard a muffled scream saying, "I DIDN'T DO IT THIS TIME!" and then a loud bang. A young woman with black hair stepped into the hut and said, "Hope you're better today." Standing with her trusty hiragatsu, she stood as inside guard against the perverted monk. 

"Sango, can you tell me something? Was there a girl that looked like me a while ago? I know you're my age, and Kaede is about double our age, but do you know anything about it?" Kagome looked worried and hungry. Afraid of the lumpy mess in the bowl set for her, she set it aside without taking a bite- hopefully wishing there was a McDonalds somewhere around here. 

"All I've ever heard was that there was a young miko, related to Kaede, that died because of a roaming youki. Kaede, absolutely distraught from the death of the relative, decided to become a miko-in-training. Hopefully to find the Shikon-no-tama, the jewel of Souls, she trained hard and long. In the end, however, Kaede's one and only true love was really infatuated with her relative. Kaede, with her heart borken in half, couldn't wait until the man would go back home. Unbelievably, the man was never found after the death of her relative. No one ever knew if he was alive or not. He used to come through the bone-eater's well. You don't know of him, do you? I mean, I heard you came through that well, too, right?" Sango said this all mesmerized and skeptical. All the things were coming together too well. 

"Oh.... wow...." Kagome couldn't believe what she was hearing. The young man **had **to be Nathanial Hawthorne. She knew that there was no way that the coincidence of the journal and the finding of the information of him was all normal. _Way too weird. _She thought about it once again. _Wait... if I look like Kikyo and she's related to Kaede.... Oh my Kami! Oh my Kami! I can't be here! _Standing up and running to the well, Kagome wanted to go home and never find this place again. Having already been branded for adultry in a previous life, she didn't want that to happen again. Sango, not being able to run after her because Kagome was much faster. Suddenly, realization hit her hard- she was lost in the woods around the well. Walking slowly around the woods to ensure she knew which way the village was from the forest, Kagome walked deeper, hoping to find the well in the thickest of the forest. 

Walking for hours, Kagome finally found something. A huge tree with many think roots from the bottom and a hollow trunk came across her path. Hoping to get across the roots and away from the tree to find the well, Kagome realized that there was a sense of peace around the area. Tired, and hungry, she had to sit down. Upon coming around the tree, something caught her eye. There was a young man wrapped around with the thick of the tree branches and roots. Scared out of her wits, Kagome ran farther away from the tree. But something was pulling her toward him again and she couldn't resist. Just like the monster tentacle in the well, she was pulled hard against the body of the young man and a pink light engulfed all. Instead of destroying the boy, it woke him up and he looked down at her disgustingly.....

"KIKYO!!!!!!!!!" he screamed and slashed at her. Suddenly, Kagome's world was darkness, yet again. 

****

to be continued.....

A/N- Ok, I'm sorry that this chapter ends so weird and cliffhanging. Of course you know who the young man on the tree is.... I can't decide what I should do with the Scarlet Letter thing. Who should be Dimmesdale and who should be Chillingsworth? I know who's gunna be Pearl and I know what's gunna happen to Hester (you guys dunno who she is in the Inu Yasha story, do you? hehehehe) kukukukuku..... I'm not Naraku or anything, I sware (don't hurt me!)..... just Read and revie!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

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AND WHILE YOU'RE AT IT: go to BrokenDreams and read my sister's ficcy!!!!!!

www.geocities.com/zeldasetsunagirl


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